THE 7 TYPES OF REST, AND HOW TO GET THE KIND YOU NEED!

Credits : Farah Siddique

If you never feel fully rested, it could be because you're not getting the right type of rest. For a long time, our default answer to the question “How are you?” has been “fine,” or some variation of it. But over the past few years—and especially during the pandemic—another response is becoming increasingly common: Telling the person who asked that you’re “tired,” or even “exhausted.” There’s a lot to unpack there, but it’s safe to assume that, for a variety of reasons, a lot of us really are exhausted all or most of the time. Can you even remember the last time you felt fully rested? Yeah, we can’t either.

Here’s what to know about the seven types of rest, and why getting the right kind can be a game-changer.

Rest is about more than sleep. Chances are, if you’ve told someone you’re tired all the time, they probably made some comment about how you have to get more sleep, or improve your sleep hygiene. 

7 types of rest includes the following:

1- Mental rest: Giving your brain a break

2- Sensory rest: Taking time to unplug and reduce our external stimuli

3- Creative rest: Doing something you find inspiring to take a break from churning out new ideas

4- Emotional rest: Processing your emotions so you don’t have to hold them in, and you’re able to be your authentic self

5- Social rest: Spending time alone when other people have drained you

6- Spiritual rest: Connecting with something beyond the physical and mental (even if it’s not religious)

7- Physical rest: Sleeping and allowing your body to slow down or pause to relax

Now when we talk about the type of rest we need, first you need to identify the types you are lacking and going from there. The process starts with some self-reflection, she says, because you typically use each of the seven areas throughout the day, and you have to figure out where you’re expending the most energy.

What does your day to day look like?, Is your day spent brainstorming and coming up with new ideas? Or is your day spent face-to-face with people discussing hard emotional stuff like a counsellor or a therapist? Once you determine where you’re pouring out the most energy, it’s going to have a huge effect on the area that you’re most likely to have a deficit in, especially if you haven’t already thought through what recovery looks like for that position or job.